The former Blume High School is a historic building in downtown Wapakoneta

Wapakoneta, Ohio

Wapakoneta is a city in and the county seat of Auglaize County, Ohio, United States with a population of 9,474 as of the 2000 U.S. census. It is the principal city of and is included in the Wapakoneta, Ohio Micropolitan S A, which is included in the Lima-Van Wert-Wapakoneta, Ohio CSA...

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Built in 1908 in a mix of architectural styles, it was designed by architects Frank Packard

Frank Packard

Frank L. Packard was a prominent architect in Ohio.He designed the porch for the home of President Warren G. Harding in Marion, Ohio . Known as stick style architecture the house was designed by Harding and his wife and constructed in a neoclassical architecture style...

 and W.M. Runkle.

The original part of the high school was built at a cost of $41,315. In the mid-1920s, it was expanded with the construction of a gym

Gym

The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, that mean a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...

nasium, a library

Library

In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...

, and the "Red Brick Section" addition; while the last portion was built with money raised from bonds

Bond (finance)

In finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the authorized issuer owes the holders a debt and, depending on the terms of the bond, is obliged to pay interest to use and/or to repay the principal at a later date, termed maturity...

, the library and gym were financed with a bequest from L.N. Blume.

Growth in the Wapakoneta school district resulted in overcrowding by the mid-1950s. After a series of failed attempts, the school board succeeded in winning voter approval for the construction of a new school in 1956, and the new Wapakoneta High School

Wapakoneta High School

Wapakoneta High School is a public high school in Wapakoneta, Ohio, United States. It is the only high school in the Wapakoneta City School District.In the 1950s, the city's growing population produced overcrowding in the old Blume High School...

 opened at the beginning of 1959. Blume was converted into a junior high school

Middle school

Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...

 for several years, but a 1978 vote resulted in the school's closing by 1980.

In 1996, the former Blume High School was listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

because of its architecture.